


Kiss It Better

by saveyourheart13



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Blood, Character Death, F/M, Gen, Violence, Yogscast Big Bang, Yogscast Medium Bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-26 21:44:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2667410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saveyourheart13/pseuds/saveyourheart13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are people who fear Nano because of her fluxed condition, and some of those people would rather have her dead than try to help her. Naturally, Lalna wants to protect her in any way he can — but what if he just can’t?</p><p> </p><p>Written for the Yogscast Big Bang, as part of the Medium Bang.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kiss It Better

**Author's Note:**

> Link to the wonderful playlist that my collaboration partner Stormy created for this! http://8tracks.com/stormydoesmusic/kiss-it-better
> 
> I think I can honestly say I'm very pleased with what I've done here, and this was one of the better decisions I've made in the past year or so. I had lots of fun with this, and I'll hopefully be continuing with writing and posting after this. Most likely. 
> 
> The original inspiration for the plot came from a song, "Kiss It Better" by He Is We. Though I'd say it's spoilers (slightly) to listen before reading, I suggest you at least take a quick listen after you read through, if you feel so inclined. 
> 
> Anyways, enough of my rambling. Enjoy! ^_^

            “Lalna, come on! You’re so slow!”

            Nano’s gleeful teasing rang out as far as the nearby hill where Ridge stood, his eyes following the rainbow trail that her jetpack left behind as she shot into the air. His eyes narrowed as he watched the fluxed girl, although he couldn’t see the traces of the tainted magic that colored her skin from this distance. She was a danger not only to herself but also the entirety of Minecraftia, unchecked in her magic as she was. To make matters worse, her mentor — no, more than just a mentor now, Ridge reckoned — hadn’t even done anything to get rid of the flux, despite all of the scientific and magical knowledge he claimed to have. His sharp gaze tracked said mentor as he rocketed up to hover level with Nano, his rainbow trail just as pronounced against the darker sky. He was fairly certain of his ability to stay hidden in the lower light of the evening, even as he observed the pair become a whirl of rainbow particles and teasing laughter.

            Ridge narrowed his eyes as Nano barreled into Lalna mid-air, sending them both tumbling down for a few perilous seconds before they pulled apart. How could Lalna just let her touch him like that, all of her flux exposed to his own skin? Didn’t he know how dangerous of a game he was playing here? He made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat, continuing to observe them from his vantage point nearby for a while longer before turning to make his way back to his own base. It was only a matter of time before Nano’s flux would become too much for even the scientist to ignore, though Ridge had no intention of letting things get to that point. As far as he was concerned, Nano and her flux would not be a threat to him or anyone else for much longer.

 

* * *

  

            “Nano? Can you hear me?”

            Lalna’s voice came in through Nano’s earpiece, a just barely perceptible tinge of worry there as he spoke. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the question, understanding the scientist’s legitimate concern for the functionality of one of his newer creations. He had recently upgraded their communication devices with the hopes of allowing them to communicate across dimensions, and now was their first test run.

            “Nope, I can only hear screams of those people you keep telling me I have trapped in me. Or maybe that’s just the Nether in general.” She giggled good-naturedly at his grumbling response, stepping away from the Nether portal that continued to make its otherworldly noises behind her. “Really though, as far as I can tell it works fine.”

            “Just be quick, okay? I’d rather not have to look for a new partner when this is all over.” She scoffed lightly at her former mentor, knowing full-well exactly what he was saying, in his own way: please be safe.

            “When am I not?” Nano stepped out of the makeshift cobblestone hut that they’d created around the portal, picking her way carefully across a pre-constructed cobblestone bridge that they had laid out during their last visit here. They had made multiple ventures into the Nether before, and as a consequence were well-prepared in terms of having the area around their portal set up. Usually, their trips to the hell-like dimension were fueled by a need for brewing materials, or blaze rods, or on the rarer occasion some ghast tears.

            Today, however, Nano had come alone — much to the disliking of Lalna — in order to spring a surprise retaliation against their somewhat-neighbors at Hat Corps. Having to act as the voice of reason for once, Lalna had convinced his former apprentice that it would be relatively safer to approach their base through the Nether, in favor of keeping off of their radars for as long as possible. However, his reasoning had backfired when she argued that she should be the only one to go in that case, an argument she had inevitably won. Now she was on the hunt for the Hat Corps’ Nether portal, which they had ever-so-conveniently labeled, just like most other things the trio believed they had a claim of ownership to.

            “How far is it — oh, found it.” Nano paused in front of the portal, checking that she had everything she needed to wage her little war on Hat Corps; though, to be fair, it wasn’t so much a war as a means of keeping herself and Lalna safe from any of their antics in the future. She checked that her purple manyullyn sword was still properly holstered, and that her jetpack was activated and prepped for a quick getaway in case of an emergency. Once she was sure she had everything organized the way she wanted, she spoke once more. “Alright Lalna, I’m going through.”

           

* * *

 

            “Alright Lalna, I’m going through.”

            The scientist took a deep breath at the words of his former-apprentice, and if he were the type to pray, he would have been sending multiple pleas to whatever gods were listening to keep his partner safe; but Lalna had lost faith in any divine beings long ago, instead finding that he could only trust in his partner and friend to take care of herself. The familiar sounds of cross-dimensional travel reached him for a split second before cutting out to silence, only to return a few moments later with the words of Nano.

            “Right, now where are their beds…” Nano’s mumbles carried through the wireless connection into Lalna’s own earpiece, reassuring him that his science had yet to fail either of them. The fluxed girl’s plans had involved sneaking into their rivals-slash-neighbors’ base and taking any taglocks of them that she could get. Since she’d begun her practice with the art of Witchery, Nano had been convinced that poppets were the best form of insurance against anyone who would ever try to hurt them.

            “If you’ve come out of the right portal, you should be a floor or two below where they sleep,” he offered, trying to remember what little he had seen of the plans for their base. Lalna and Nano had only been there once before, having gotten distracted on another expedition they had taken, and he had rushed for them to leave before the owners of the property returned. He could hear the soft breathing of Nano as she moved quietly through the Hat Corps underground base, and he held his own breath as the sounds of her climbing upward reached him.

            “I think I can see one of their beds.” Nano’s voice was hushed, and Lalna could nearly imagine his friend as she crept across the open floor of the main level; her eyes — one a warm, dark brown and the other a fluxed purple — darting around with sharp sense of awareness that came from adrenaline, crouched low as she moved as quietly as humanly possible. The scientist could feel his own adrenaline pumping, worry for his friend and partner coursing through his veins along with the intense need to be there and keep her safe, as much as he believed she could take care of herself.

            “Alright, let me just…” She trailed off as she concentrated on the task at hand for her, making sure she collected a proper taglock of whoever the bed belonged to. “There! Hah! Now to find—“ Nano’s words cut off with as she swore, Lalna’s heart skipping a beat or two as he strained to hear anything through his earpiece.

            _“We saw you, little purple girl! You can’t fool us by hiding!”_

            Lalna shot straight up off the chair he had been sitting on in their computer room, the hairs on the back of his neck standing straight up as he heard the other voice, loud enough for Nano’s mic to pick it up. He recognized Ross’ voice, the slight growl to it making him seem more predatory than usual as he taunted the fluxed girl.

            “Nano, get out of there!” Lalna hissed into the mic, grabbing his sword from nearby and sprinting out of one of their base’s many exits. His only thought as he slammed the “on” switch for his jetpack was to get to Nano as quickly as possible, to keep her safe from the trio who made up Hat Corps and who could be as unpredictable as an unstable compound.

            “It’s not my fault your bloody portal was so close to mine!” he heard her shoot back at Ross, trying to cover up the reason she had been in the base to begin with. Lalna whipped out his hang glider, boosting his speed with his jetpack as he raced to get to Nano. “I was trying to get home, and I ended up here instead!”

            _“Well why don’t you be more careful next time, eh, Fluxy?”_ That was Alsmiffy’s voice, almost maliciously smooth as he spoke. He was the least stable of the three, probably owing in part to his decidedly inhuman nature. _“Wouldn’t want you ending up in the middle of something nasty because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, eh?”_

            “Look, I was just leaving. You’re the ones who made your base into a bloody maze to get out of!” Somewhere in the back of the mind Lalna registered that Nano was stalling, looking for a chance to leave even as she distracted them. But at the time, all he could think of was how bad of an idea it was to let her go alone.

            _“Speaking of home, where’s your scientist buddy? Or is he more than just a buddy now?”_ Nano sputtered in rage or embarrassment — Lalna couldn’t tell, not through the rush of air as he sped toward their base — spewing curses at the trio in an attempt to tell them off. He heard a sudden yell over the earpiece, belonging to one of the others and not Nano, followed by a crash and the sound of a jetpack firing up. More yelling spilled over into the mic on Nano’s earpiece, though it was fading steadily as she put distance between herself and her assailants.

            “Lalna!” Nano was slightly out of breath, probably from forcing her way out of the base. Lalna could hear the wind flowing past her as she fled, and he knew exactly what she was asking even without her having to say it.

            “Go toward the mountain, past their sign.” He adjusted his course mid-flight, heading toward the mountain he’d mentioned instead of his original destination. “I’ll wait for you there.”

            Knowing that Nano was away from the Hat Corps base and relatively safe compared to just a few minutes ago had Lalna’s heart rate calming, though he was still on edge from the entire encounter. He knew that they were already mistrustful of Nano because of her flux, not unlike many others in the land of Minecraftia; it would be easier to count those who were their allies, or at least not out to take Nano’s life.

            He landed on the side of the mountain, about two-thirds of the way up the side of it, keeping an eye out for the rainbow particles that their matching jetpacks put out when they flew. Nano showed up a few minutes later, looking slightly disheveled but overall not much worse for wear. She coasted to a landing gracefully beside him, tucking away her own hang glider to free up her hands. Lalna let out a heavy breath, one he hadn’t realized he’d been holding until the moment he saw with his own eyes that she was still alive.

            Without fully realizing what he was doing, Lalna pulled his friend into a hug, one that she returned after a split second of shocked hesitation. He towered over her small frame, easily a full foot taller than the shorter girl. Still, for a smaller person she sure packed a punch when she was angry; that was something Lalna knew first hand.

            “Well, at least we know the earpieces work fine,” Nano offered when she stepped back, straightening the red flowers that she loved to have pinned in her chocolate brown hair. Her brown and purple gaze met his blue one for a moment, a smile on her face despite the danger she had just escaped. Lalna couldn’t help but chuckle, even as a he ran a hand through his quite literally windblown blond hair.

            “Yes, that’s quite true.”

 

* * *

 

            “Now, what do we have here?”

            Ridge hovered above the current mess that was the main floor of the Hat Corps’ base, including the grumbling and swearing owners of the property. They looked as if they had taken a slight beating, and if Ridge squinted and tilted his head slightly he could almost make out the remnants of purple taint in the air around them. Of course, the fluxed anomaly would be involved in this.

            “In need of some help, sirs?” A reply of grumbling curses greeted Ridge’s not-so-sincere offer, followed by a glare from Ross as he picked himself up off the floor. He didn’t look particularly injured, just a bit roughed-up compared to his normal appearance.

            “That purple fluxy one was in our base again,” he spat with a growl, reaching down to pick up Trott and Alsmiffy as he spoke. Ridge nodded once, his suspicions confirmed with his answer. “Said she was just trying to get back home, but I don’t believe a word of it.”

            “Maybe we should test out those nukes we’ve been saving up,” Alsmiffy chimed in, prompting Ridge to raise an eyebrow as he floated down to land lightly on the floor, barely stirring the air around him. Even on the ground, he was taller than all of them apart from Alsmiffy; regardless, he had an appearance and air that commanded respect, something that the trio were well aware of and not keen to neglect. “I mean, not that we have any on us now, of course.”

            “What you do and do not have is of no concern to me,” Ridge replied with a dismissive wave. “So long as you refrain from doing anything stupid, of course. Else I will be forced to step in and intervene.” He turned his hardened gaze on Alsmiffy, olive-brown eyes holding his until he turned away sheepishly. Even the green non-human creature knew not to directly oppose the resident demigod, unless one was looking to die. Ridge surveyed their base again, noting that nothing seemed out of place in particular; just the lingering remnants of the flux that Nano carried around with her. At its level of existence, just little fragments left behind where the girl had been, the taint posed no danger to the trio who lived here.

            “So that is that. I will be off now. Take care, gentlemen.” There was an almost mocking tone to Ridge’s words as he stepped into the air again, floating for a moment with a satisfied smirk before he was gone. Trott shuddered, shaking his head and adjusting his doctor’s coat with a huff as the demigod left.

            “Still can’t shake that weird feeling I get when he’s around,” the walrus-human hybrid muttered, earning nods of agreement from his friends. “Nothing ever goes well when he’s involved, not for anyone but him.”

 

* * *

 

 

            “Are you bloody _kidding_ me?”

            Nano’s frustrated yell echoed upstairs to reach Lalna’s ears as he worked on fixing a hole caused by an unfortunate accident with a creeper. He chuckled to himself as he finished his task, going inside and downstairs to check in with the fluxed girl. She was standing with an irritated look on her face in front of her locked Witchery chest, where she kept most of her taglocks when they weren’t in use, along with some of her extra supplies for poppet magic. She turned at the sound of their elevator blocks activating, seeing Lalna as he approached her.

            “I don’t know whose bloody taglock this is! I didn’t get to check it before I left, because those _jerks_ showed up, and I didn’t get to bloody label it, and —“

            “Nano,” he cut in, repressing the urge to laugh at his former-apprentice’s ranting. “You can just check it now and label it.” She stopped mid-swear, deflating as she realized her novice mistake as it was pointed out to her. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to rationalize her outburst. Finding nothing, she instead opted to sink into a sulking silence, shooting a glare at the scientist when he actually laughed at her expression.

            “You can shut your mouth, Lalna,” she grumbled, shuffling her supplies around and looking for a label to add to the taglock she had acquired. Working a bit of Witchery magic on it — Lalna genuinely had no idea what she was doing sometimes, which is why he left the witch-magic to her — she nodded in satisfaction, writing Alsmiffy’s name on the label with an glint in her eye before replacing everything in the chest. She closed it carefully, making sure to lock the clasp before coming to stand next to her former-mentor.

            Lalna looked down at his stubborn friend with an amused expression, just barely resisting the urge to pat her on the head in the way that she didn’t particularly enjoy all that much — “Makes me feel like a cat,” she’d said to him as she whacked his hand away. Nano set down one of her Luggages with another glare at the scientist, calling to Rincewind as she made her way to the computer storage system they had set up a while ago. The creature scuttled after her, sitting obediently in one spot as she opened his mouth carefully to retrieve the items inside. He grinned at her affectionate manner with the creature, something that she demonstrated toward all animals that she came across.

            A warm feeling in his chest caught Lalna off-guard as he watched his friend, something that he didn’t quite understand but knew all the same what it was. His face went warm as Nano turned to catch him looking at her, only to go red herself as she scrambled to tuck a sparkling gem back into her pocket. Recognizing it as the sapphire he had given her a while ago — back when they were still living in New Camelot, before they had moved to Panda Labs, their current home — he felt something jump inside of him that he couldn’t quite put a finger on.

            Shaking the feeling off that he couldn’t — or wouldn’t — identify, Lalna opted to rummage inside his own pockets for something he had meant to give Nano. Finding it quickly, he pulled it out and tossed it to his friend, who caught it after fumbling with it for a moment.

            “Wh-what’s this?” Nano asked, surprised at the sudden object being thrown at her and curious as to what it was for. It looked like a large magnifying glass that didn’t actually magnify anything, the glass in the middle etched with strange runes that she couldn’t read and rimmed with gold and small gems.

            “It’s a Thaumometer.” At the blank look he received, Lalna continued. “Remember how I said we’d be doing some research into Thaumcraft magic? Well, this is the way to do it.” He pulled out his own Thaumometer, identical to the one Nano held in her hands. “You use it to scan objects and gain research. So you just go up to something, and hold it so you can look through it.” He demonstrated on a nearby torch, with Nano following suit with a confused look on her face. He went on about the details and technicalities of the research process, going off about aspects and nodes and vis and all of the above.

            “So… what’s the point of all of this? I mean, I’ve already got my Witchery stuff set up and all, so…” Nano finally cut in after letting the scientist rant for a while, accustomed to his tendencies. He paused, blinking at her with his bright blue eyes; if it weren’t for the fact that he was a hulking giant compared to her smaller frame, he would have almost felt like a child being questioned by an adult for doing something incredibly childlike.

            “It’s — well — it’s to help you,” he finally managed to sputter out, lowering the device that he had been using to scan everything in sight.

            “How do you mean?” Nano had been somewhat confused since this particular lesson had started, and his explanation was doing nothing to remedy that fact.

            “The research. It will help with your flux.” Lalna gestured toward her arms, where he could see the purple of her flux curling its way further and further upward. He was responsible, and he needed to fix things before it was too late.

            “But my flux is fine, Lalna! Like I’ve told you before.” Every time he asked her, she claimed that it wasn’t getting any worse, and that is was staying where it was on her arms and on half of her face; but he’d seen — on accident, much to his embarrassment and her’s when she’d found out — the flux curling it’s way onto her shoulders and across her back, slowly creeping its way across the entirety of her body. And he might say that it shouldn’t worry him, because she wasn’t worried about it; but he knew deep inside that he was worried of losing her to the flux, and it would be his fault because if it weren’t for him, she never would have fallen into the sphere of flux in the first place.

            “We still need to look for a cure, Nano. It’s just not safe, and now that we’re closer to the old castle it might get worse.” She looked at him with a mixture of understanding and resistance, an expression that Lalna had grown used to over the number of times they’d had this particular discussion. “I was told that Thaumcraft magic has a way to cure taint, which should help with your flux.”

            “But — but it’s fine! The flux is fine Lalna! It’s not —“

            “Nano! The flux isn’t fine!” He was still on edge, just a bit, after what happened today, and his words came out harsher than he intended them to; he realized this when he saw Nano visibly flinch at his tone. He took a deep breath, letting out a sigh as he gathered himself again. “Nano, the flux isn’t fine. It’s dangerous, or at least others believe it is. They think it’s going to take over you, or that you’ll hurt them because of the flux. We _need_ to find a way to cure it, before something bad happens.”

            “So what, you think I’m going to hurt someone?” Nano snapped at him, and this time it was Lalna’s turn to flinch at the acid behind her words — no, not just acid, but hurt and betrayal as well. “You think I’d _hurt_ someone? I thought you knew me better than that, Lalna. And you _believe_ them.”

            “N-no! That’s not what I meant” He was scrambling now, to take back what he had said and the way he had said it. That’s _not_ what he’d meant at all! “ _I_ don’t think you’ll hurt anyone! I just —“

            “Just what, huh? You want to dissect me, like the bloody scientist you are? Take me apart so you can see how the flux works?” She whipped out her hang glider, flicking the switch to activate her jetpack a little too hard. And maybe he was imagining it, but Lalna swore that he could see purple radiating off of the angry girl. “Maybe I _like_ the flux, ever think of that? It’s been bloody nicer to me than you are!” She activated the elevator block to rise a floor, leaving Lalna to scramble after her.

            “Nano, wait! That’s not what I meant!” He rushed to follow her up a floor, seeing her head for the door as he made it upstairs. “Nano, please —“

            “ _Don’t_ follow me,” she all but snarled at him, and this time he was sure that he wasn’t imagining the purple that was shimmering around her body. Her usually warm eyes — even the purple, fluxed one — were cold and angry, pinning him in place until she turned to storm out the door. Lalna stayed rooted to the spot where he stood, hearing the sound of her jetpack activate as she shot into the air. That sound managed to snap him out of his frozen state, and he burst out of the door and activated his jetpack as fast as he could manage.

            “Nano, please —“ Lalna cut himself short as he shot into the air, realizing that Nano was long gone and out of his sight, and he had no idea which direction she had gone in. He switched his communicator on, in hopes that hers would still be on as well, but to no avail. Swearing, he set off in a random direction, hoping that if he kept searching he would be able to find Nano before anyone else did, especially those who would want to harm her.

           

            Hours of increasingly frantic searching later, Lalna found himself resting atop a large tree several meters away from the edge of what could be considered their home territory, worried sick about what had happened and where Nano had gone. The sun had started going down an hour ago, and now it was nearly night with still no sign of his friend. Again he found himself at fault, this time with the wrong words instead of the wrong actions. Cursing himself for the umpteenth time in the past day, he dragged himself to his feet, readying himself to make another pass at the surrounding area.

            “Going somewhere, scientist?”

            Lalna resisted the urge to jump a foot into the air at the sudden voice behind him, managing to regulate himself to the tensing of his entire body instead. He recognized the voice immediately, and it didn’t belong to someone of his liking.

            “Wouldn’t you like to know, Ridgedog.” He forced a mask of composure on his face as he turned to face the demigod, who floated in front of him with a leg casually crossed over the other and a smirk on his face as he reclined on a nonexistent chair. Lalna didn’t have time to deal with him, not now when Nano was still out there and potentially in danger. “What do you want from me?”

            “Can I not just show up for a little chat?” Ridge’s smirk morphed into an innocent smile, false in every way imaginable. “Though I suppose you would not be wrong in assuming otherwise.” He unfolded his casual posture into a standing position, though his feet were still at least a foot off the top of the tree where Lalna stood.

            “Just spit it out, Ridge. I don’t have time for this right now.” Lalna was biting his tongue to hold back a more unpleasant form of his sentence, knowing that he would only be able to push the demigod so far before he would be forced to pay the price. Ridge’s smirk returned, as if he was laughing at a joke that only he knew about.

            “Anything to do with your little purple friend? Or should I say your _friend_?”

            “What do you want with Nano?” Lalna spat out, reaching for his manyullyn sword as he spoke. Ridge raised a hand, wagging a finger at him as a warning. The emphasis of the wording didn’t escape Lalna’s notice either, and much to his distaste he could feel his face grow warm from the implications.

            “Now, I would not do that if I were you, scientist. As mad as you are, even you should know that I am called a demigod for a reason.” Lalna growled a couple of curses under his breath, dropping his hand to his side in recognition of the truth behind that statement. “Good boy.” The scientist glared at him, which only made a grin grow on his face.

            “What do you want then, Ridge? I swear if you’ve hurt her —“

            “I have not done anything to your fluxed friend — at least, not yet.” Lalna stiffened at the last part of the sentence, though if Ridge noticed he paid no heed at continued to speak. “She is the reason I sought you out tonight, scientist. Surely, you have noticed her condition? Even you are not that blind to the effects of magic on a person.”

            “And if I have? So what if she’s fluxed. It’s not doing anything to anyone but her, and even that’s debatable.” He wasn’t going to mention the fact that Nano had told him about voices speaking to her, or the way that the flux on her skin sometimes seemed to be guiding her instead of just being there the way it used to. “It’s completely under control.” The demigod’s sharp laugh caught him by surprise before the olive-brown eyes turned their gaze upon him.

            “Then I have given you too much credit, scientist. You are more foolish than I even imagined.” Ridge floated forward a few paces, putting himself directly in front of Lalna, forcing him to look up as the demigod loomed over him. “The flux is a dangerous thing, scientist; even you cannot deny this. And she is just as dangerous as it is, so long as it has her in its grasp. I cannot let such a danger exist in my lands, and I am asking you to put a stop to it. After all, she is your responsibility.” Lalna flinched back at his words, rage and adrenaline building in him as his mind processed what was being said.

            “You’re asking me… to _kill_ Nano?” The words were hard to force out of his own mouth, even knowing that they were not his own. “You want me to _murder_ my friend, who has done no harm to anyone, ever?” He was shaking, and he could feel it deep in his bones. “I will _not_ be the person you are, Ridgedog. She had done _nothing_ wrong, and I won’t let you or anyone else hurt her.”

            “Suit yourself, scientist. I am giving you the time to take care of the anomaly. I expect it will be done by the time I return. I am sure you will come to see the light of this situation, and that you will do the right thing.”

            Within the span of a breath, Ridge was gone, leaving Lalna to let the demigod’s words sink in. He wanted to _kill_ Nano; thought she was a danger to Minecraftia, and likely to himself as well. Fear — an emotion he hadn’t felt in a very, very long time — welled up in his throat, the metallic taste of adrenaline flooding his mouth as he shot into the air. He set his course to return to Panda Labs, hoping to refuel and gather more supplies in order to find his friend, only to be greeted by an unexpected sight when he returned.

            Nano was perched on the edge of the roof of their base, legs swinging slowly as she looked out over their front lawn and beyond to their farm. The fires from the smokestacks he had set up recently — a project that had taken far longer than he liked to admit — burst up periodically in the darkness, illuminating her figure in with an orange glow. Lalna coasted down hesitantly to land on the ledge behind her, tucking the glider away before approaching her slowly.

            “Nano, I…” He trailed off as he drew closer, catching sight of a tear running down her face in the light of the next burst of fire. The silence that fell was only momentary, broken by a shaky breath from Nano before she spoke in a small voice.

            “Am I really that dangerous? Are others really in danger around me?” Her voice was trembling as the words came out of her mouth, making it clear that she was fighting to keep her tears in check. She turned to look at Lalna, her eyes sad and scared as they met the scientist’s gaze. He sat down next to her, careful not to lean too far forward as he did so.

            “Of course not. They’re all crazy and paranoid, and they have no need to be.” Tentatively, he reached out to hold her hand in his, frowning when she flinched at the contact. “Nano, I’m serious. You’re not dangerous at all. You have control of the flux, it’s all fine.”

            “But what if it’s not?” She was halfway to being hysterical, another few tears escaping her before she could stop them. “What if they’re right for wanting me dead? What if I’m not in control of the flux, and something goes wrong one day? What if I hurt you, or —“

            “Nano.” She stopped at his voice, soft and not nearly as angry as it was earlier in the day. Her eyes flitted away from him for a moment, looking down to the ground far below them, before coming back to meet his. “You won’t hurt me, or anyone else. That’s not who you are. I’m — I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I shouldn’t have done that. I was just… I want you to be safe. I thought that curing the flux would be a way to do that, but…” He stopped, not sure of what to say next.          

            “They want me dead though, Lalna. So many people want to kill me, because I’m a _monster_. And what if it can’t be cured? Then what?” She was scared, that much Lalna could see; her body was shaking, and it couldn’t have been from the heat that the fires behind them put off. She refused to look him in the face any longer, lowering her gaze to settle on the ledge between them.

            “I won’t let them.” The conviction in Lalna’s voice left no room for argument, shocking Nano into looking up once more. His blue eyes were hard, even in the darkness of night, and dead-set on the assertion he was making. “We’ll keep looking for a cure, study Thaumcraft magic and do everything we can. But I won’t let anyone hurt you, and _no one_ is killing anyone, yeah?” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, pulling her into a hug after a moment’s consideration. She buried her face in his purple shirt, wrapping her arms around him as he did the same, enveloping her in a protective embrace. “I _will_ keep you safe.”

            He thought back to what Ridge had threatened to do, his heart aching at the thought of losing his friend forever to the finality of death. Fluxed or not, she was still Nano, the only person who still stayed with him, even after knowing what he was capable of doing in the past; and the only person who had managed to convince him he still had a heart, even after all he had done. Imagining a world without her _hurt_ , in ways that he never could have fathomed, and he was sure it was a world he never would want to live in.

            “Lalna,” Nano spoke up from where she was still buried in his embrace, her smaller frame shaking less now as she began to calm down. “You’re still an arse, you know that?”

            “Yeah, I am,” he conceded with a small laugh, the rumble of it passing through him to his friend, making her laugh a little as well.

            “But you’re _my_ arse, so it’s okay.”

            “If you say so, Nano. Though I don’t know if I want to be your _arse_.” He chuckled as she punched him in the side, pulling back just enough for him to see her face and know that she wasn’t actually upset. “I am sorry though, for what I said. I just wanted to be able to keep you safe.”

            “I know that now. You’re still a jerk though.”

            “I know.”

            “Yeah, you better know.”

 

* * *

 

 

            “So what’s today’s lesson, hm?”

            Lalna looked at Nano as she tilted her head back to give him a cheerful smile, one that he returned easily in the early morning light as they lay together on their beds. The night after they had fought, they’d come in to sleep and Nano had asked if they could push their beds together; of course, he agreed immediately, heart thumping away in his chest. He had his arms wrapped around her now, giving a light squeeze as he considered what he had in mind for the day. They’d been making steady progress in the study of Thaumcraft magic since their argument the other day, Lalna fueled with even more vigor with the reminder of Ridge’s threat hanging over his head. He shuddered at the memory, unable to suppress the physical response of his body as his smile curdled into a frown. An answering one crossed Nano’s face as she felt the shiver pass through his body, trying to turn in order to face him.

            “You alright, Lalna?” Her words were quiet, concern in her brown and purple eyes as they searched his face. He shook his head quickly, forcing a smile back into his expression and some energy into his voice before replying.

            “Of course! Just thinking about what we need for our work today. Need some more shimmerleaf plants and all that, and some ink sacs for our scribing tools.” He pushed himself up into a sitting position, the sheet falling off of him to reveal his trademark purple shirt. The fluxed girl followed suit as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair, attempting to tame it in a way that looked at least somewhat respectable. With a giggle Nano reached upward to help him, stretching a little in order to reach his hair and assist him in flattening it. Thanking her with a smile that was only a little forced, he reached over to his bedside table to grab his goggles, settling them on his head where they belonged. Nano wrinkled her nose good-naturedly at him, rolling off the opposite side of their beds to stand.

            “Well we better get going then. Now, go downstairs so I can change! And don’t you dare look!” She pulled a folded outfit out of her drawer, a set of her signature Asian-style clothes — a red button-top shirt with golden embroidery and edges to the fabric, with matching red and gold shorts over white leggings.

            “Why would I look? You’re probably all fluxy underneath your clothes anyways!” She shot him a look that could have dropped a fly in mid-flight, prompting him to grab his lab coat and boots before retreating downstairs. His troubled look returned as soon as he was out of Nano’s line of sight, the words that Ridge had spoken to him just over twenty four hours ago still a weight on his mind. He had yet to tell his friend about the encounter with the demigod; he knew it would only upset her, after all, especially after the events of that same night. He did his best to shed the growing feeling of paranoia and dread that accompanied thoughts of his conversation with Ridge, throwing his lab coat on without bothering to button it as he activated the elevator block to head downstairs. Shaking his head fiercely, he made an effort to turn his attention to a project he’d been working on in his spare time for a while now.

            When Nano arrived several minutes later, hair pinned up on both sides with red flowers and the energetic smile that Lalna loved so much on her face, the scientist was already immersed in his work, attempting to wrestle with a particularly stubborn piece of metal as he determined mentally exactly what supplies they needed to continue their research. He glanced up as she approached him, scrambling to nonchalantly hide his work product as his heart skipped a beat when he unwillingly noticed how beautiful she looked today — and yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that; just all the time, if he was really being honest with himself. He turned back to the crafting station quickly, a blush spreading across his face as he ducked his head in an attempt to hide that fact.

            “What’s the plan then, Lalna? Time for us to go out hunting for materials? Back to the Twilight Forest again today?” Nano had been itching to go back to the beautiful yet dangerous realm since they had first left the place, dropping hints about doing so about as often as she dropped hints about nuking the Hat Corps base or Sjin’s farm. Lalna forced a chuckle, hoping it wasn’t too obvious by the way the sound seemed to feel like it was stuck in his throat as he shook his head.

            “Not just yet.” His heart dropped when her smile faltered for a moment as he properly looked up, only to correct itself as if it had never changed in the first place. “But we will go back soon, I promise.” The promise seemed to cheer her up considerably, all of her bouncy energy still intact even without the prospect of going to the Twilight Forest at that exact moment.

            “What’ll we do instead then? You said we needed shimmerleaf plants and ink sacs, right? So let’s go find some!”

            “Actually… I think you should stay here today, Nano.” The look that crossed her face hurt more than being nicked by stray arrow, her entire demeanor deflating at his words. “I know you don’t want to, but… um…” He scrambled for an explanation that would satisfy her, when really what he wanted was to keep her out of the way of harm from anyone else, especially Ridge, for as long as possible. “Um, there’s some things that need to be prepped, down in our Thaumcraft room. And I know you won’t be satisfied with the way I’d put everything out — call it too messy and unorganized, or something.”

            “Well you have to admit, Lalna, that you _are_ rather unorganized for a scientist!” Her gaze was indignant, firm in her belief that she could, in fact, do a better job with prepping things than Lalna could with his haphazard ways. “I don’t think I’d trust you to put out all the things we need, considering we’re dealing with magic here. Isn’t that stuff all precise and finicky?”

            “Which is why I need you to set it out, before we end up blowing up half of Panda Labs. I’d rather not spend the next month rebuilding everything we’d lose in that explosion.” His reasoning was sound enough, all things considered; and to be fair, it wasn’t _exactly_ a lie either. Nano nodded slowly in contemplation, giving a more decisive bob of her head once she’d fully processed the reasoning and come to an agreement with it.

            “Fine then. I’ll take care of things here. You go take care of those shimmerleaf plants or whatever they are.” She accessed their storage terminal next to him as he tucked away his current project, something that his friend had yet to even hear about, much less see. Not so long ago, Lalna had found a sapphire to match the gem he had given Nano when they had still been living in New Camelot, and after seeing that she still carried the one he’d given to her he’d come to a decision on what he wanted to do with the new gem. Of course he hadn’t said a word about it to Nano, wanting to surprise her with the gift when he finished working it, in hopes that it’d make her smile in her way that could light up any room.

            Lalna yanked himself away from that train of thought, one he found himself traveling down all too often in the recent days and weeks, although he would never admit it out loud. Mentally pushing the thoughts away as his face began to grow warm once more, he reached for his sword and some supplies, tucking his weapon in its sheath and the rest of the things away in his pack. He adjusted his goggles on his head, doing a routine check of his jetpack to ensure he had enough power left in it to last him as he went out to search for materials. Satisfied with the reading for the amount of energy in the device, he made his way toward the elevator block so he could head out.

            “I’ll be back soon, yeah?” Lalna called out to Nano, who turned from her current task of finding the things she needed in order to set up a Thaumcraft room for them downstairs. He lifted a hand to tap the communication device he had, the earpiece turning itself on as he did so. “Just yell if you need me. I’m not sure how far I’ll have to go to find shimmerleaf plants, since I can’t remember seeing any in the area…”

            The scientist trailed off as his friend put down what she had been carrying, coming over to stand in front of him with a strange look in her eyes as she contemplated him for a moment. Without saying a word she pulled him into a hug, wrapping her small-yet-strong arms around him as she buried her face just below the crook of his shoulder. Taken by surprise, Lalna hesitated for a brief moment before circling his own arms around her smaller frame, in a way that was as much of a friendly gesture as something more.

            “Be careful, okay, Lalna?” Nano’s voice was slightly muffled as it reached his ears, though he could still hear the slight shakiness to her tone as she spoke. He brought her closer to him, his embrace becoming more protective as his mind wandered back to his conversation with Ridge. “I know I’m not the only one with enemies out there…” She trailed off for a moment, her body shuddering slightly as he felt her draw in a shaky breath. “I just don’t know what I’d do without you, okay?”

            “I’ll be back as quick as I can, alright?” He was crumbling swiftly as he realized how scared she actually was; and when he thought about it, they’d hardly ever been apart since she’d first fallen into the fountain in the courtyard of his old castle. After their conversation the other day, it was no wonder that she was suddenly more nervous about having so much distance between them. “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it, Nano. I’ll see you when I get back, yeah?” His voice was softer now, although what he wanted to do was shout every word with conviction to the world, as if daring it to challenge him. He could feel her nodding into his shoulder, and he relaxed his arms around her slightly as he felt her begin to draw back.

            Nano reached up on the tips of her toes to plant a quick kiss to his cheek, both of them going matching shades of scarlet as she pulled away completely. She ducked her head as Lalna’s mind attempted to process what had happened, none of the words he wanted to say coming out of his mouth. _I swear I’ll keep you safe, no matter what it takes. Nano, I —_

            “B-be careful, Lalna.” She broke his train of thought as she stammered out the words, face growing impossibly redder as she gathered up everything she needed in her arms. “Now get out of here, you big dork.” She stepped past him to activate the elevator block for herself, vanishing downstairs as the scientist continued to work through his jumbled up feelings. For a moment he considered following the fluxed girl downstairs, ready to spill out everything he’d been thinking to her, laying it all bare as some would say; instead he decided against it for the time being, still needing to process her simple gesture that said nothing and everything at the same time.

            Physically shaking his head in an attempt to recollect himself, Lalna activated the elevator block to rise a floor, moving out into the open air of midmorning. He toggled his jetpack switch to be in the “on” position, pushing off of the ground to rise into the air with rainbow particles trailing behind him. Reaching what he deemed an acceptable height, he pulled out his hang glider and angled himself to head off in the direction of his old castle, thinking he had seen some shimmerleaf plants a bit past that when returning from one of their adventures.

            The shimmerleaf plant, while actually for Thaumcraft research in general, was actually meant for a more specific purpose than the scientist had let on to his friend. Reaching carefully into his pocket as he flew, Lalna felt for the gem in its new setting as a pendant, hung from an enchanted chain that he’d made from some extra materials they’d looted in the Twilight Forest some time ago. He’d done some extra reading beforehand in his Thauminomicon — one of the few things they’d been able to salvage from his old base when they’d gone back — and come to an understanding that silverwood trees somehow helped to contain taint. Shimmerleaf plants tended to grow near naturally-occurring silvered tress, at least according to what he could understand, making them useful for locating the trees. Considering Nano’s flux was just another form of the taint that existed as a sort of magical fallout, he figured it could have a similar effect on containing the flux and preventing it from spreading; at the very least, there was no harm in trying it.

            Lalna scanned the ground intently, looking for the telltale glow of shimmerleaf plants, or the blueish leaves of the silverwood trees they tended to grow near. He steered well clear of the tainted zone spreading out from his old castle, taking a detour around it to avoid having to even pass over it; too many old memories, and not all of them good ones either. An out of place blue patch caught his eye as he approached a nearby hill, accented by smaller glowing plants in the surrounding area. Lalna coasted down to land atop the tree, confirming as he did so that it was silverwood tree and not just one of the anomalies that liked to sprout up every so often.

            Dropping a short distance to the ground — the tree was fairly short compared to the other ones around it, leaving the scientist to guess that it was a relatively young tree — Lalna walked over to one of the nearby shimmerleaf plants, careful pulling it out and brushing off the excess dirt. The glow it gave off was a comforting one, a light silvery-blue color that was easy on the eyes and the mind. He tucked it away carefully in his pack, mindful of the leaves and the petals of the flower itself. Turning his attention to the silverwood tree, he took a moment to inspect its lower-hanging leaves and the bark of tree itself, which was a distinct silvery color that probably gave the tree its name in the first place. He barely had to stretch in order to the reach the lowest branches of the tree, pulling off a few leaves that looked fit for his intended purposes.

            Extracting the gem and its chain from his pocket, he sat down in the shade of the tree, in order to put the finishing touches on the gift for Nano. He was looking forward to being able to give it to the fluxy girl when he got back to their base; his only worry now was that she would like it, and that it would make her happier than she was now. And maybe he would finally be able to say that words that he wanted to say to her this morning, now that his head was slightly clearer and his words were working properly again. But first, there was courage to be found and shimmerleaf plants to be gathered.

 

* * *

 

 

            Lalna had only been gone for an hour or so when Nano heard a strange noise upstairs, prompting her to pause her work and listen for another moment. She doubted it was her friend returning so soon, though it also wouldn’t surprise her to learn that he had found what he’d wanted to get already. Placing the ink she had been mixing from their remaining ink sacs on the nearby table, the fluxed girl crept her way toward the elevator block, stepping onto it and activating it to move upward a level. Tiddles lifted her head lazily from the nap she was taking as Nano appeared, quickly deciding with a sleepy _meow_ that she would be going back to sleep instead of being bothered by her secondary owner. She wondered if she should check another floor up, just in case there actually was something — or someone— inside of Panda Labs. The fluxed girl stopped again, holding her breath in an attempt to hear if there were any other strange noises in the base. Hearing nothing, she brushed it off as being a figment of her imagination or just one of the newer machines that Lalna had installed. She stepped onto the elevator block once more, using it this time to make her way down to the bottom floor of their building once more.

            “Hello, Nanosounds.”

            Nano felt the words against her skin as much as she heard them, jolting forward as she whirled to face the source of the voice. Floating in the air in front of her was Ridge, a strange look upon his face; something of a mixture between displeasure and a smug confidence that only the demigod could exude so clearly. She reached for the hilt of her manyullyn sword, preparing to draw it and defend herself, only to find that the weapon had vanished from its usual place at her hip. Her eyes dropped quickly, confusion clouding her thinking for a moment as she examined the empty space where her weapon should have been.

            “Looking for something, are we?” She looked back up at the demigod, biting back a snarled curse at the sight of her sword dangling carelessly in his hand. “You really should not leave such a thing just lying around where anyone could pick it up, you know. It could get rather dangerous.” Before Nano could even flinch, Ridge whipped the sword at her blade-first, catching her on the side of the arm before clattering off the stone wall behind her. She hissed as a slice of pain shot through the open wound, the pain catching up to the lightning-fast movement.

            “What do you want, Ridge?” she forced out through gritted teeth, caught in a mask of false kindness as she spoke. He noticed this undertone easily, raising an eyebrow as if he were a teacher ready to reprimand a student who had talked back in class.

            “Oh, nothing much,” Ridge replied smoothly, leaning back in mid-air with a posture that suggested pure disinterest to the fluxed girl. She flicked her gaze backward over her shoulder without actually turning to look, attempting to locate the approximate area where her sword had fallen. “I just decided to check in on some business, though you are a clear indication that things were not done properly.” His cold gaze ran over her body, lingering with what could only be disgust as they passed over the purple flux on her arms and face.

            “And what’s that supposed to mean?” All she needed was for him to turn away for a second, just long enough for her to grab her sword from the ground behind her. He granted her unspoken plea, turning his face upward as if reading something on the ceiling above them.

            Nano tensed her muscles to pivot and lunge for the sword, prepared to reach for the hilt as soon as she had placed it in relation to her trajectory away from the demigod. Before she could even move more than an inch from her current position, Nano felt herself being thrown back against the wall, the wind knocked out of her as she hit the solid material with what felt like the cracking of bones somewhere in her body. She forced herself up to her feet, line of sight rising to see Ridge floating where she had been only a second before. In the time it took her to blink, the demigod went from across the room to inches away from her face, the movement faster than she could even hope to perceive as he shoved her up against the wall, cruel hand holding her off the ground by her throat.

            “Stupid little girl,” he berated, still as calm and collected as ever as he pushed her harder up against the wall. Nano gasped for breath, feeling his hand constrict around her throat and her air supply slowly being cut off. “Did you really believe you could out-think a demigod such as myself?” He was laughing at her as he spoke, the malice of it glittering in his olive-brown eyes as she clawed at his unyielding hand in attempt to break free.

            The edges of Nano’s vision had already gone dark by the time Ridge let her go, dropping her to the floor in an undignified heap. Coughing, she did her best to push herself up again, feeling a sharp pain in her side as she did so. Her arm was still bleeding from earlier, doing nothing to help the dizziness that came from lack of oxygen.

            “I would say you should learn from your mistakes for next time, but such a phrase would be wasted on you.” Ridge hovered in front of her, face adorned with a sadistic grin as he tracked her pained movements. He had a faint glow around him, a reddish-orange like the color of rust or dried blood.

            “What — what do you want from me, Ridge?” She glanced at her sword again, contemplating making another attempt to get it back. The demigod’s eyes followed her near-imperceptible movement, deterring her from following through on the idea. “If you need something, just take it and go.”

            “Gladly.”

            Nano cried out as pain flooded her body, the feeling of magic ripping through her as the glow around the demigod grew more distinct. Forcing herself to look up as she trembled from the pain, she saw that Ridge had pulled out what looked like a power glove, similar to one that Lalna had been using when they first met back at his old castle. A sliver of pain unrelated to whatever Ridge was doing to her ran through her heart even as she held back the urge to scream, realizing that the scientist had yet to come back — what if Ridge had already done something to him?

            The pain left her as quickly as it had come, leaving only few moments of gasping relief before gravity lost its hold on her as she flung back against the wall once more. This time there was a definite sound of bones breaking upon impact before dropping her to the floor with a sharp intake of breath. The cruel hum of energy gathering prompted her to lift her head, when really all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball on the floor.

            Ridge was approaching her at a steady pace, sparks of pure energy flying off his glove where he was gathering power. His other hand seemed to be flickering in and out of existence in the room, replaced in the moments when it didn’t exist by what seemed to be the Void gathering in the shape of the missing appendage.

            “W-what do you want from me?” Nano had to force the words out of her mouth, following them with an involuntary cough that brought up blood; something had been punctured inside of her, probably accounting for at least part of the pain she was in now.

            “Is it not easy to see? Surely you must know what I want with you, Nanosounds.” Now the demigod was just toying with her, something she could see on his face; his grin had only grown since she had first cried out, and his expression now was cold yet still clearly one of enjoyment. He drew closer again, causing Nano to scramble backwards, only to give a sharp yelp when he teleported the rest of the way and dug the sharp tips of his power glove’s fingers into her skin. She bit back another yell of pain as he forced them further into her back and shoulder, grinding her teeth as her vision began to close in. Ridge leaned in until his lips were right next to her ear, nearly brushing her skin as he spoke. “I want you _dead_.”

            Nano’s blood went cold at his words, only a split second of comprehension passing before a fierce pain bloomed along the side of her face and head. The rest of her body followed suit a moment later, throwing her down to the ground as her vision blurred and world refused to stay still. Something in the back of her mind registered the faint static of her earpiece that meant it had been turned on — likely when Ridge struck the side of her head — though her conscious mind was too focused on the situation in front of her to make any use of that fact.

            “W-why? I — I haven’t done anything to you.” Her voice was weaker already, her breaths more accurately described as gasps at this point. She battled with her eyes to have them focus on the demigod, who observed her with predatory intent and calculation in his eyes.

            “Because you are an _abomination_ ,” Ridge spat, his words the closest thing to a snarl that you could expect to come from the composed man. “That flux you have is a danger, and I will _not_ stand by and let such an anomaly threaten my land. I gave your scientist _friend_ —“ the emphasis he placed on the word suggested that he knew they were something more than that “— a chance to fix this himself, but of course he refused. So naturally I had to remedy that, did I not?” The implication that he had done something to Lalna was enough to rekindle the fire in Nano, even if she was in no state to actually do anything about it.

            “If you’ve done _anything_ to Lalna, I swear to _god_ , Ridge, I will _kill_ you.” Nano tried again to push herself to her feet, failing miserably and only ending up coughing up more blood again as a result.  More of the dark red liquid was pooling slowly on the ground next to her, dripping off her shoulder where the demigod’s power glove had dug into her skin nearly to the point of hitting bone. The flux on her began to give off a wavering purple glow, her anger driving it to point of reacting like it had only a few days prior during her argument with Lalna.

            The bold statement dragged a barking laugh out of Ridge, his eyes lighting up with a savage delight at the spirit that Nano still displayed before returning to their cold certainty at the sight of the flux reaction. She did her best to glare at him, even as her vision swam, her mind starting to go hazy from blood loss and pain. “And how do you plan to do that, hm? You cannot even stand, and yet you want to make threats like that to me?”

            The crackle of energy shooting through her with torturous speed filtered through her muddled consciousness, causing her to scream before she could bite it back. Nano curled in on herself, entire body shaking from as the energy diffused itself from her body, though the pain remained.

            “Please — please don’t! Ridge — !” Her voice was more of a hoarse plea than anything as she begged the demigod to stop, only to be cut off again by the feeling of fire that Ridge ripped across her back. She yelled again as her entire body screamed in pain, a large part of her conscious mind attempting to shut down in order to block it all out.

            “Lalna, help, please —“ Nano was nearly hysterical with the pain she felt now, her whimper cut off by a sharp hit to her side. More bones crunched under the impact, causing her to cough up more blood and she curled in tighter on herself.

            “Do you really think your scientist will be able to help you now? An anomaly like you has no friends, and will receive no help from anyone. _No one_ could _ever_ love you.”

            Ridge charged up his power glove once more, the hum of energy making Nano flinch preemptively in anticipation of the blow. Tears streaked her face as she alternated between pleading with him and calling for Lalna to help her, much to the demigod’s sadistic amusement. His eyes were as unfeeling as they were at the start of his interaction with the purple girl, cold calculation on his face as he raised his arm to take aim for a fatal blow. He leveled off his shot before firing without so much as a second thought, watching with cruel satisfaction as Nano cried out once more, her vision going completely white for a moment.

            “ _Lalna!_ ”

 

* * *

 

 

            “ _Lalna!_ ”

            Nano’s scream cut through the scientist’s haze of working, the agony lacing that one word — not just any word, his _name_ — sending a chill down his spine.

            “Nano? Nano, what’s going on?” His frantic attempt to communicate was only met with silence from the earpiece, shooting adrenaline through his veins as his mind began to race. He slammed the switch for his jetpack into the “on” position, dropping the plants he had been inspecting to whip his hang glider out of his pack. Propelling himself as fast as his jetpack and glider combo would allow him to go, he could feel his heart pounding out a beat that he was sure could be heard from miles away.

            Lalna arrived back at the base in record time, dropping to the ground from a few feet up as opposed to wasting time with a nice landing. The door was still closed, and nothing seemed to be amiss outside, though this did nothing to calm his racing heartbeat.

            “Nano? Where are you?” The scientist called out to his friend, an edge of panic in his voice as he pushed the door open, stepping inside with as he drew his manyullyn sword. Seeing nothing still on the main floor, he headed to the elevator block, activating it as fast as it would allow him to. He descended a level, and then another, both times being greeted with nothing out of the ordinary besides a pacing Tiddles on the lower of the two floors. Lalna activated the block again, unprepared for the sight that he was faced with on the lowest floor of their base.

            Lalna’s blood went cold as his blue eyes took in the scene in front of him, splashed with the deep red of wet blood. Hovering in front of the scientist was Ridge, armed with a crimson-coated power glove. From what he could see, the demigod was looking down at something on the ground; though he didn’t know exactly why, the hairs on the back of his neck had decided to stand straight up as soon as he laid eyes on the room.

            “Ridgedog, what are you doing here?” He attempted to keep his voice steady, but even he could hear the tremble as he spoke. The demigod turned slowly, a smug grin of satisfaction on his blood-streaked face, more of the crimson coloring the front of his coat and shirt.

            “I just came to take care of unfinished business, scientist. You were just a bit too late for the deal.” Something was seriously wrong, Lalna knew, the paranoia creeping up on the scientist by the moment as he failed to find his fluxy friend.

            “Ridge, where is Nano?” A hint of rage crept into his next demand, his hand shaking as he processed what had happened. “Ridedog, where the _bloody_ hell is she?”

            “Lalna…?” Nano’s weak voice reached his ears through the rising panic, prompting him to shift his focus beyond the floating demigod in front of him. Lalna felt the blood drain from his body as his gaze fell on the mangled body of his friend, broken and bloody as she tried to lift herself to reach him and failed miserably. Rage slowly replaced the emptiness in he felt at the sight of Nano’s condition, moving his attention back to Ridge for a moment.

            “As I said, you were simply too late, scientist. My work here is done.”

            “Ridgedog, you —“ Lalna snarled a string of swear words at him, rushing at the grinning demigod with his sword in hand. Ridge gave a mocking grin at the last minute, disappearing from the room and out of reach of the scientist’s sword within the span of a breath. Lalna stumbled forward into empty space, fury still pumping adrenaline through his veins before he regained his sense of the situation. “Nano —“ he gasped, turning to fully face his friend for the first time since he’d been in the room.

            The fluxed girl lay curled on the floor where Ridge had left her, her back clawed open by the sharp metal of the demigod’s power glove. Her skin was pale and ashy as Lalna dropped to his knees next to his friend, the blood — _her_ blood — on the floor soaking through his trousers as he reached for her tentatively.

            “Nano, I’m — I’m so sorry, I didn’t know —“

            “It’s not… not your fault, Lalna.” She tried to smile at the scientist, the pain only twisting it into a bitter grimace. “There’s no way you could have stopped him.”

            “But I was supposed to _protect_ you,” he replied quietly, laying his hand gently on hers. She intertwined her fingers with his, giving his hand a light squeeze as a form of reassurance. Lalna felt as if his heart was being torn in two, even as his mind raced to try and find a way to save his friend; the reality of the matter, however, was that nothing could save Nano now, not even a benevolent force of nature with all the power in the world. “I told you I’d keep you safe. I shouldn’t have left you here alone, I should have dealt with Ridge before, I —“ His voice cracked as he felt his throat close up, tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke.

            “Lalna…” Nano’s voice was growing quieter by the second, her eyes struggling to focus on the scientist’s face. “Lalna, I — I’m scared. I don’t want to die.” Tears were clearing tracks down her face, and Lalna fought the overwhelming urge to break down crying in order to put on a brave face for her. “I don’t want to leave you.”

            “I’m right here, Nano. I’m not going anywhere.” He carefully pulled his friend into his arms, murmuring soft reassurances to her as she flinched in pain. “It’s alright, it will all be fine.” Now the tears were running down his face as well, falling upon the broken body of the only person who truly mattered to him beyond a normal friendship. He remembered the gift he had been preparing for her, still in the pocket of his lab coat, now soaked with her blood.

            “I have something for you,” Lalna said quietly, using one hand to fish inside his pocket for the pendant on its chain. He had woven some of the silverwood leaves around the sapphire, the leaves still putting off a soft blue glow. “It’s — it’s supposed to help with your flux.” This time, Nano was able to muster a tiny smile as he slipped it over her head carefully, readjusting his hold to cradle her gently. He tenderly brushed her matted hair back from her face, leaning down to rest his forehead against hers.

            “Thank you,” she managed in a rasping whisper, the breath rattling out of her body more than holding any sort of concrete pattern as it should. She took a shuddering breath, her entire body shaking with the effort. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay? I don’t… I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

            “But Ridge, he can’t —“

            “I love you, Lalna.” Nano knew that the words shouldn’t have taken as long to say as they did, but they were true all the same. She had done her best to show it in her own way, though she wished she had done more; but now, as Ridge had said, it was too late for wishing. “Please.”

            Lalna met her purple and brown eyes with his blue ones, his words failing him once more even though there was no way he could even question how he felt about the fluxed girl. He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, closing his eyes as he returned to his previous position, stroking her hair softly as he spoke to her.

            “I love you too, Nano.” His declaration was barely more than a whisper, but it was more than enough for the two of them. He felt the last breath rattle out of Nano’s body as much as he heard it, and he choked back a sob as he finally let himself feel everything he’d been holding back for the sake of his friend. He clutched her lifeless shell as if it were the only thing keeping him alive in the world, tears flowing freely now that he wasn’t putting on a brave face for his friend.

            It hit him that Nano was really gone — the only person that he every truly loved, just gone forever. Rage flooded him again at the thought of why she was dead; and demigod or not, Ridge had to pay for what he had done. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen to him now? It’s not as if he feared death, and now that Nano was gone, he had little else to live for.

            Lalna lay her body down gently, closing her vacant eyes and folding her arms over her chest. He reached for his sword, which he had thrown away once Ridge had disappeared earlier and lay on the floor nearby. The scientist rose with a hardened look in his eyes, checking that his armor was secured before stepping onto the elevator block. Activating it to ascend to the main floor of their base — or was it just his base, now that she was gone? — he stepped outside to lift into the air with his jetpack and glider, set on taking care of some business of his own.

 

            Hours later as the sun began to set, Lalna found himself at the outer edge of what seemed to be a town that had sprung up around a large castle-tower, one that the scientist knew that Ridge had built himself as an extension of his base. He coasted to a stop and landed at the foot of the largest tower, pulling out his sword as he did so. For a moment he considered announcing himself to the demigod, but he decided that would be redundant, since it was likely that Ridge knew he was there regardless.

            As if summoned by the pure thought of his name, the demigod appeared in front of Lalna, floating a foot or two off the ground in a relaxed posture. He regarded the scientist, still in his blood-soaked lab coat and trousers, manyullyn sword in hand. His blue eyes were dull and empty as they stared Ridge down, compared to their normally bright color.

            “I was not expecting you so soon, scientist. Come to thank me for my service to you?”

            “You _killed_ her, Ridgedog. Nano is _dead_ because of what you did.” Even his voice was dull, a heavy anger replacing the normal inflections that occurred within his sentences.

            “And the problem with that is…?”

            “She’s gone! She’s never coming back! And _you’re_ the one who caused that!” Lalna snarled the words at the demigod before lunging with his sword, clearly not having learned from his previous attempt on Ridge’s life. Ridge simply disappeared as the sword passed through where he had been, reappearing behind the scientist to shove him forward with his power. Lalna stumbled a few feet forward, hitting the ground and rolling as he did so. He pushed himself back up to his feet, this time more wary of his attempts to attack the demigod in front of him.

            Ridge kept an unconcerned expression on his face as the scientist moved to strike at him, easily deflecting it and throwing Lalna halfway across the brick walkway. He resisted the urge to laugh at Lalna as he got up, instead containing it as a slight smirk that crossed his face for a moment before being gone once more. Lalna made several more passes at Ridge, failing each time to even get within a foot of the demigod no matter how hard he tried.

            “I am becoming bored with this futile effort you have made, scientist. I suggest you leave now, before you truly begin to test my patience.”

            “You have no patience! I didn’t even have two days to try and cure her flux! And then you came to _murder_ her!” Lalna made one last rush at Ridge, who finally decided to put the scientist in his place with a well-placed spell to bind him in place. Bound by an invisible force, the scientist was coerced into dropping his sword — not that he had any other choice with the way he was nearly suspended in air — growling curses at the demigod as she approached the crazed scientist.

            “This is my last warning to you, scientist. You either leave here now and do not return, or I _will_ destroy you, just like I did with your friend.”

            “Why don’t you just do it then? You already did that to an innocent person, so why not a scientist like me?”

            “Do not tempt me, mortal,” Ridge hissed, floating back up to a higher level of the castle as the magical bindings fell away from Lalna. Collapsing to the ground, he felt the weight of failure crushing him slowly, pulling him further into the despair that he had been trying so hard to fight. He had failed to protect Nano, failed to keep her safe; and he had failed to take revenge on the person who had murdered her. Everything fell away from him, all the adrenaline and rage that fueled him, even as he pulled himself to his knees to helplessly watch the retreating form of the demigod.

            Unable to stop the flood of emotions — the rage, the despair, the unrelenting heartbreak of losing his best friend and the person he loved — Lalna doubled over and _screamed_ , pouring out all of his torture and pain to the world that he knew would never understand him. He yelled until his throat was raw, the hoarse cries echoing back to him off the stone bricks of the nearby structures, seeming to mock him as he broke down into hiccupping sobs once more. Everything hurt, and though he wanted nothing more than to inflict the same pain upon Ridge that the demigod had put him through, he knew it would only be a means of playing into the immortal’s endless game.

            After what felt like days — but was, in reality, only hours — the scientist dragged himself to his feet, all but completely numb to the world around him. Almost as if running on autopilot, he flicked the switch for his jetpack to propel himself into the air, directing himself away from the towering structure behind him. It wasn’t until he passed the large mountain that had been home to a dwarf fortress — one that he and Nano had begun clearing out without comprehending that the dwarves were nowhere near the evil beings they thought them to be — that he realized he was heading back to Panda Labs, sorrow lancing through his heart at the mere thought of the place. There was no way he could return there, not after what had occurred, and not with her body still lying in shambles where he failed to save her. He had no home now, not without Nano; she made anywhere seem like home, no matter how far they had travelled.

            Without even consciously registering that he had altered his course of flight, he soon found himself landing in front of his old castle, now overtaken by the flux and taint that had gotten Nano killed in the first place. Lalna gave a sharp bark of a laugh at the irony of the situation: of course the place that had started it all would be the place that he would come to call his home in order to escape the misery. He had no care for the taint anymore, not concerned in the least that it would infect him in the way it had his friend; it seemed only right, that he would fall to the same fate as she did, and at his own hands as he deserved.

            He stripped the jetpack from his back, dropping it and his sword to the ground without any sense of delicacy or care; as far as he was concerned, he would not be leaving this castle once he entered. There was nothing left for him to leave for, and if the beckoning purple shadows of the taint that swarmed him were anything to judge by, the castle knew it just as well as he did. Lalna stepped forward into their reach, head hanging as he gave himself up to the dark magic that enshrouded the area. It’s tendrils led him inside, almost encouraging him with faint, half-heard whispers in his ears as their voices brushed past him.

            “ _Come to Mother — don’t be afraid — she’s been waiting for you — you’ll be safe — nothing to fear — Mother is calling —_ _Lalna —_ “

            His head snapped up at the last voice in his ear, his eyes desperately searching for what he knew would never be there. The swirling purple magic shifted in front of him, even as smaller wisps of it tugged at his disheveled hair and blood-painted lab coat with an unseen wind. His dull eyes seemed to focus on something in front of him for a moment, a faint purple sheen allowing the light to return to them for just a moment as recognition played on his face; and though no one was there to hear him, he let a hoarse whisper escape his lips before falling to his knees and disappearing to the flux’s grasp.

            “Nano… I’m here. I’m home.”


End file.
